On May 22nd and 23rd, the South Windsor Science Olympiad team secured its fifth consecutive state championship and represented SWHS and Connecticut at the national level in Los Angeles, California at the University of Southern California (USC).
Before they departed, the team launched a “Got Your Back” campaign, where students asked the South Windsor community for donations to fund their journey and cover travel costs. Any group that contributed to the organization was rewarded with a shout-out on the official National Tournament shirts worn by the school’s Science Olympiad team in Los Angeles.
Prior to the national competition itself, there was much preparation involved to ready the team for what was to come.
“In order for the team to prepare, lots of time was spent after school almost every day for the weeks leading up to competition,” said Science Olympiad team member and SWHS junior Mason Smith.
Some members of the team spent time improving for their build events, which are hands-on events. These include builds such as robots or electric vehicles. Others totally redid their builds to upgrade for the national level.
As for test events, the primary goal was to look at the state’s tests and determine what should be improved upon.
“Time was spent not only taking practice tests but also adding information to cheat sheets and information binders so that we could be prepared on test day,” Smith said.
All the preparation culminated on Friday, May 22 when the National Competition began. That day involved heavy introductions, including an introduction ceremony and a swap meet which allowed teams to meet one another. A science expo was also held, giving teams the opportunity to check out interesting projects.
Teams truly brought out their competitive grit on Saturday, May 23, where most of the day consisted of competitions held in different buildings throughout the campus. Events would go on in 50 minute blocks until around 3:30pm and were run by Science Olympiad volunteers and officials from all throughout the United States.
At 7:30, after four hours of free time for Science Olympiad team members to interact and spend time on campus, the awards ceremony began. Held at the Galen Center, an indoor arena at the University of Southern California, it was found that the team performed well, consistently matching their results from previous years.
“Our highlights included Astronomy placing 12th in the nation, and both Boomilever and Water Quality placing 16th. These are excellent results,” Science Olympiad advisor and SWHS science teacher Joshua Kraus said. “In a field where the best students in the country are separated by the smallest of margins, placing in the top 20 is a massive achievement for our program and for South Windsor.
Moving forward, the South Windsor Science Olympiad team hopes to maintain their success and pass it on to the next generation of team members.
“Mostly the goal for the next year seems to be determining which rising seniors will be kept for the team, as well as helping educate underclassmen to fulfill certain roles on the team,” junior Andrew Zhang told The Prowl.
Kraus echoes a similar objective to Zhang, going even further to prime future members for the program.
“Our goal is to never become complacent. We are looking to ‘raise the floor’ by seeking out even more prestigious invitationals and increasing our mentorship of the Middle School program to ensure the pipeline of talent remains strong,” Kraus said.
Complacence is one thing that has not plagued the Science Olympiad team, and thanks to the commitment that its members and mentors have towards the program, it will not be an issue anytime soon. As the group moves on from this year’s national competition, they look forward to future events, where they hope to make an even larger impact and continue to build on the legacy of South Windsor’s Science Olympiad team.
